Good Enough
by Nukas
Summary: What if Mikey was the eldest? What effect would that have on the team we all know and love? How would they be different yet the same? 2k3 Version.


**Good Enough**

 **TMNT 2k3 – Mikey and (His now little) Brothers**

 **Summary: What if Mikey was the eldest? What effect would that have on the team we all know and love? How would they be different yet the same?**

 **Notes: A good friend of mine (AlexHamato) here on always preaches to me, "A character can act or behave anyway you want them to. All you have to do is set the scene." (Or something like that anyways, lmao. I remember the first part, just not that last bit, haha.)**

 **I also just wanna leave the comfort zone of "Baby bro Mikey" and make myself work a bit, I feel like I've just been putting the boys in set stages and not actually playing with them like I feel like I should.**

 **Anyways, enjoy! Also, translations of the Japanese at the end of the fic! (Thank Tachanka for Google Translate.)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own this franchise.**

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Mikey sighed as he ran a hand down his face tiredly. He wasn't ever this down, really. But lately, he can't help but be like this. Raph had gotten hurt...again. What kind of older brother was he?

How could he keep making such rookie mistakes?

He was the eldest and he acted like a child. He did it for them...

To keep them happy. Because Mikey _knew_ , he _knew_ , that with what they did, they could easily take their own selves down from the inside out.

He kept a smile on his face and his attitude positive for them but...it's not what they need right now...is it?

He had to talk to Sensei about this, he had decided.

 **...**

"Yes, my son?" Mikey nearly jumped out of his shell. How did he always manage to do that?

"Chotto masutāsupurittā, watashi wa shitsumon ga arimasu. Watashi wa warui otōtodesu ka?" He asked, his voice and face the most serious it has been in a while.

Splinter looked taken aback for a moment before his normal, calm expression returned. His most confident son has never seemed so insecure before, so this question actually threw the wise old rat off for a moment.

"How do you see yourself, my son? Do you think you are a good leader?" Mikey grumbled in the back of his head about how his father kept answering questions with more damn questions.

Sighing, Mikey finally knelt in front of his father who had been meditating with his candle placements on the floor. "I _don't know_ , Sensei...I-I'm supposed to lead them...teach and protect them. We all know how clumsy and dumb I can be. _Why_ am I the leader again, Sensei? Why did you choose me? What have I done to deserve this title?"

Splinter hmm'ed but did feel his heart sadden at his usually cocky son's portrayal of himself.

"My son, you are smart and talented in your own way. But even so, there is more to being a leader. A leader must be able to understand and communicate with his team, Michelangelo. Does Leonardo open up about his inner struggles to Donatello or Raphael? Does Raphael relax and accept love as easily with Leonardo or Donatello? Can anyone else connect with Donatello the way you do, my son?"

Mikey shook his head like his father had made some big mistake, "But Sensei, I don't lead them right. Leo would be much better; he actually takes pride in his work. He does more planning and such than I do. Don is Don; he takes care of everything pretty much; supply wise anyways. Raph is strong and determined enough to protect an entire village. Sensei, I'm..." Mikey couldn't think of a good quality about himself. When was he ever this self-doubting?

Maybe it had something to do with Shredder absolutely kicking their butt...

Splinter sighed silently, noticing the presence of his other sons behind the door, but didn't point this out. Whilst Michelangelo was good at keeping this side of him hidden from them, he couldn't keep it hidden from his own teacher and father. Splinter always knew his son had a deep, hidden sense of self deprivation. He always worried if he was good enough.

"An individual who knows how to handle others. My son, it can be considered by some as a gift to reach others the way you do. A team is not based around one person. What would you all be without each other? A team will function _only_ as a whole. It is true; Leonardo does plan more than you may, Donatello may provide more for us all, and Raphael may be the most passionate amongst us; but my son, you will always be a glue for you four; this is what a leader is made to do."

Mike frowned deeply in thought for a moment. Sure, his father's logic made perfect sense; when has it not? But Mikey didn't know if he really was glue...

"Why not ask your brothers, if you still have your doubts?"

Mikey immediately shook his head, "No can do, Sensei. Those guys have enough to worry about. My job as eldest is to-"

"Don, if ya keep gettin' on mah case about dis-"

"You should be resting! We'd tell you what we hear if you did, shell for brains!"

"Shhh!"

Mikey face palmed. "I take it back, I'm officially the best at stealth." Master Splinter chuckled at his sons' antics and had to smile softly as he heard it go dead quiet behind the door now.

"Okay you three, come out. C'mon, we know you're there." Mikey smirked. Part of him was panicking in case they heard _too_ much, but he figured they had barley reached the door.

 **Donatello P.O.V**

My eldest brother is, all in all, the turtle version of Deadpool, which was one of my brother's favorite movies and Marvel characters. Go figure. ( _ **The first thing I thought of when I thought of an older version of Mike, haha**_ )

No, seriously.

Michelangelo has the mentality of a 13-year-old; how was _he_ the eldest? Mother nature has some explaining to do.

You'd more likely candidate _me_ to be older; and I'm the _youngest_!

Yes, my name is Donatello. So is Raphael (My immediate older brother) and Leonardo (My second eldest brother); yeah, the Renaissance Artists' name thing was something our father, Master Splinter, came up with. He's also our Sensei; oh, and if the fact that me and my brothers are mutant turtles which are teenage ninjas aren't enough, our father is a mutant rat.

Okay, so life is weird here...

But back to my personal rant.

Michelangelo is my eldest brother. He's pretty much everything you can fit into the definition of a headache. He's loud, annoying, boastful, overconfident, sociable (sometimes overly so), inappropriate, and likes to crack dirty jokes.

But there's also the side to him that shows his age amongst us. He keeps the coolest under pressure. Not only that, but I can never remember a time where any of us were hesitant to talk to him or afraid of him. I can't even remember a time where we ever had something _against_ him. Brothers fight; yes, that much is true. We will always have arguments. But Mike never lets things escalate farther than they should.

I guess these reasons are why he's leader.

Yep, believe it or not, this immature jokester is our eldest brother _and_ leader.

It's a miracle we don't have one foot in the grave.

But I also know that Mike knows us better than we know _ourselves_.

As far as I can remember, Mike has always been compassionate. He looks at everyone's side of the fence and never skimps our feelings over. Leo sometimes did that and Raph has the social and emotional grace of an aggravated bull. I, myself, have no interest in emotions or socialization. Mike was good at getting me out to do that stuff.

" _Mikey! Raph stole Don's car!" Leo tattled. Raph grumbled under his breath as the 8-year-old came over to his 7-year-old brothers._

" _Raph, give Don back his car!"_

" _Whateva! Dis is so dumb!" Raph angrily threw the toy down to the floor, causing the car to break into pieces. It wasn't all that new or stable, thanks to the poor conditions of the sewers..._

 _Don gasped, tears entering his eyes as he watched his beloved R/C car smash into pieces. He had invented it himself._

" _Raph!" Mikey snapped, causing Raph's eyes to widen. Uh oh, Mikey never got this mad._

" _Donny, are you okay? Don't worry, we'll fix it up, buddy." He comforted, crouching and hugging his brother. He failed to notice his other little brother running to hide in his room. Splinter was out on a supply run, leaving Mikey in charge._

 _The six-and-a-half-year-old shook his head in his big brother's plastron, tears trailing and leaving stains on his brother's chest. He couldn't fix_ that _._

 _Leo frowned and stomped off to yell at Raph. That big meanie! How dare he make Donny cry!_

 _Mikey rubbed his brother's shell before noticing the empty living room. Frowning, the eight-year-old felt the stress grip him. He was the one in charge! Their Sensei would definitely be mad with him if anything happened to his brothers!_

" _Hey, Donny, why don't you go and try fixing this up? I have no doubt that we can do this! I'll be in to help you in a sec! I just gotta check on Leo and Raphie, 'kay?"_

" _M'kay..." Don frowned, picking up the scraps and taking them to his little room._

 _Just as Mikey was about to knock on Raph's door, he heard yelling._

" _You're so mean, Raph! Why can't you just stop being such a bully!"_

" _Ah'm not'a bully, Leo! You are! Stop bein' so... con- con- controllin'!"_

" _Hey, hey, gentle-turtles, let's not lose our heads, 'kay?" Mikey peeked his head in to stop the tension. He stepped in between and cleared his throat._

" _Let's all be friends here, alright? We gotta make this up to Donny! Leo, yelling at Raph won't make Donny feel better! Raph, I know you're sorry, right? So, let's agree to fix things! After all, Donny is our baby brother!" Mike felt accomplished with himself as he saw Leo begrudgingly deflate and Raph guilty nod his head shyly._

" _Great! We're all on the same page! Alright, now, how are we gonna make this up to Donny?"_

I remembered finding a new R/C car on my desk the next day, even cooler than my old one. Forgetting Mikey's broken promise of fixing the old one and the arguments the day before, I spent the whole day playing with my new car. Not once did Raph or Leo fight nor bug me.

It was heaven.

Back then, anyways...

I guess Mikey really was a great big brother... Once you got past his childish attitude.

Mikey was the one who stopped the arguments. Those hurt me the most. I despised when Leo and Raph fought. Mikey took care of that for me.

He sheltered me, in a weird way. With all his Rated MA jokes and 'Party Boi' attitude, he really was a great brother. I've seen Mikey get protective...it's not pretty.

Raph's often pictured _first_ to be the tough/macho protector of the family, but when it comes to protecting us from ourselves and each other, Mikey's the protector of the family then. He kept the calm, so I didn't have to.

And I thank him for that, because that's probably the most responsible decision I've seen him make.

Now, here he is calling himself a bad leader and older brother...

He had always been so...confident. Like, he never had any worries or fear...

Was that all a lie?

 **3rd Person P.O.V.**

Mikey frowned when all his little brothers stood, staring. Leo looked slightly guilty, Raph was attempting to hide his surprise and Don was struggling to wrap his mind around his brother's sudden mood change.

He looked to his Sensei who had nodded at him, practically reading his mind.

"Can we, uh, talk outside Sensei's room guys? I think he was in the middle of something..." Obviously, the brothers took the hint and they went to the kitchen, Mikey sighing and trying to figure out how to break the silence.

Surprisingly, he didn't need to.

"Why?" Don asked out of the blue, "You always seem so..."

"Confident?"

"Ego-high?" Glares were sent Raph's way and he shrugged, "What, we were all thinkin' it."

Mikey chuckled softly, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I know I'm a douchebag." He smirked and rubbed Raph's head, causing Raph to growl lowly and shove his brother's hand away.

"Look, you three are the best little brothers I could ask for; don't get yourself, cough cough, Raph, hurt. Please, be careful. Just because I'm not, doesn't mean you guys have to go all reckless and crazy too, okay? I'd...I'd really fucking hate it if something happened to one of you guys..." He cleared his throat to pass off the emotional cracking in his voice. Seeing the wrapped shoulder on Raph and the bandages littering all of their bodies...

He couldn't ever lose them.

Leo frowned, "Well, what makes you think we wouldn't miss you? It's not fair that you get to be reckless with your life but we can't." He pointed out, making Mikey curse his brother's quick thinking.

"Because..."

"Ah swear, if ya say it's because yer oldah..." Raph snarled, causing Mikey to give a raw laugh, his voice being extremely dry and the emotions coursing through him.

"No, not because I'm older, Raphie-boy. It's because if anything happens to me, I don't care. Alright, I'll be completely honest; all I care about is you three being happy and alive." He smiled his trademarked smile before noticing the looks on their faces. Raph looked close to punching something, Don looked like he needed a hug, and Leo looked just so _down_. Maybe they all needed a hug...

"Come here you three. You guys look like you _really_ need a hug and some ice cream or something." He smirked good naturally and pulled all three in. Not even Raph protested. Mikey reminded himself to be gentle with him though. "You guys understand what I mean. Well, not you Don. You're the baby we all think this about. Leo might understand a bit easier than you though, Raph." He winked, causing Don to flush and the reminder that he was the baby of the family, Raph to roll his eyes like he was being embarrassed by his mother or something, and Leo to just smile lightly.

"IT EXISTS!"

"What?" Don tilted his head innocently.

"LEO CAN SMILE!" He laughed jovially and gave Leo a good noogie, effectively making Leo laugh, though he _did_ _not_ welcome it. Damn his brother's ability to make him laugh.

"Watashi wa zen sekai de kyōdai no saikō no gurūpu o motte imasu. Sono batto no kyōdai o tsurete kudasai." Mikey smiled as he had all his brothers cracking up at the last line. Raph even broke into a small burst of laughter but quickly tried to cover it.

Master Splinter smiled from the background. Yes, indeed he was a great leader.

He had always been. He was good enough. Splinter never had a doubt.

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 **Translations:**

 **(1) Chotto masutāsupurittā, watashi wa shitsumon ga arimasu. Watashi wa warui otōtodesu ka? – Japanese**

 **(1) Hey Master Splinter, I have a question. Am I a bad brother? – English**

 **(2) Watashi wa zen sekai de kyōdai no saikō no gurūpu o motte imasu. Sono batto no kyōdai o tsurete kudasai. – Japanese**

 **(2) I've got the best group of little brothers in the whole world. Take that Bat brothers. – English**

 **Sorry if they are inaccurate! I have no knowledge of how to speak Japanese and Google Translate's all I got!**

 **Reviews are writer's candy and flames will be used to fuel my Mozilla FireFox! Foxy loves to eat dat spicy fire!**


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